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Monday, January 03, 2011

Obama Signals Full Speed Ahead on Cap and Trade

Today's big announcement out of the Barry O White House is the appointment of yet another environmental radical to his team, this time with the fancy title environmental economist. The man selected to this position is Nat Keohane, who has a long track record of arguing for a cap and trade policy as well as being a fellow traveler on the global warming crazy train, along with all the other members of Obama's energy and environmental team.

Keohane has participated in a number of expert workshops and panels on key issues such as the design of cap-and-trade programs and the regulation of carbon markets. He also presented a paper at the NYU climate finance conference in Abu Dhabi in May.

Keohane attended the international climate negotiations in Bonn as part of the EDF delegation. He was also one of roughly 100 experts from around the world invited to participate in the Scoping Meeting for the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which took place in Venice in July.

In the video below he explains how a cap and trade policy would work, leaving out the fact that it has contributed significantly to Europe's financial woes.

He also seems to have some issues with Hummers. The same engine that is in a Hummer is also in dozens of other models of cars, but you know how the image of a Hummer works, and for this reason this makes him a very good propagandist.

In 2007, he had a post on Yahoo Green where he lays out exactly what kind of environmental economist he is.

This is where we part company. Technological innovation is not most quickly and efficiently implemented by government programs. Markets are much more nimble and able to respond in real time to what works and what doesn't. Our best hope is to get the power of markets working for us through a cap-and-trade system.

Global warming is a classic example of market failure. The pollution that causes global warming has skyrocketed because the environmental costs are hidden, and we don't factor them into our decisions. Factories and power plants pay for the fuel they burn, but not for the pollution they emit. The solution is to harness the power of market forces by establishing firm caps on greenhouse gas emissions.

Gird your loins, America. What Obama couldn't accomplish through a Democrat-controlled congress, he will now attempt to achieve through executive action.

I wonder if any press reports will contain information on this guy's positions or will it be like everything else liberal related: something to be ignored since they back such policies.